First Person Shooter (FPS) video games represent a category of video games in which the viewpoint of game play is shown from the perspective of the main character as the user moves his character and battles through various game scenes representing different levels of the game. The vast majority of FPS games are combat-based in which the main character is engaged in battle against various enemy combatants. The theme and context of the game's storyline can be based upon history, action/adventure, science fiction or fantasy.
FPS games came into existence as the graphics processing capability of video gaming platforms, whether console-based or personal computer-based (PC), became powerful enough to graphically render immersive virtual battlefield scenes and other three dimensional virtual worlds for gaming. Once the graphics proved capable enough, the controls to play such games soon followed suit. Two primary forms of controllers developed to support play on these two main platforms. The keyboard was the primary form of controller used with PC-based games, while the D-Pad and its derivatives and antecedents became the primary forms of play control for console-based FPS games. Each enabled the player to move his character within a scene as well as from one scene to another. The player could also change his character's field of view as well as select and activate various shooting weapons for combat play.
The D-Pad (“Directional Pad”) controller was first developed for use by Nintendo® Corporation of Japan. This controller device was held with both hands with the player's thumbs on top of each half of the controller respectively. The control mechanism was activated by depressing it with each of the user's respective thumbs and was a cross-shaped (“Red Cross”-shaped to be exact) spring-tensioned rocker switch for use under the left thumb, while the right thumb had control over two buttons labeled “A” and “B.” The cross-shaped switch controlled by the left thumb would move the character right, left, forward and backward within its virtual world in response to which of the cross's four arms was depressed. The right thumb switch would be used to pan the around the character's field of view within the virtual world, which required finer and more precise movements. This partitioning of right versus left thumb control was determined based upon the fact that right-handed players could control gross movements with their left hands, while fine coordination is more naturally and quickly controlled by right handers' right thumbs. The weapons' points of aim would always remain screen centric and thus the weapons would be aimed at their targets by a control combination of the user's left and right thumbs.
By the second generation of console games, Play Station 2® and X-Box®, the rocker switch D-Pad controller was further enhanced by the addition to the rocker switch of two additional “thumb-sticks”, which are miniature joysticks that can be fully articulated solely by using the tip of the thumb, one for each thumb. These thumb-sticks could also provide measurable levels of displacement that could then be further mapped to effectuate control of character movement of differing rates, with small displacements corresponding to slow movement and large displacements corresponding to fast movement within the virtual world. The addition of thumb-sticks to the original D-Pad controller design allowed for much more responsive and instantaneous character control that was highly reflexive, precise and accurate. This type of improved D-Pad controller became widely known as a Dual Analog Stick controller and has not changed much since for any of the major gaming console platforms, especially for FPS game play.
This second-generation D-Pad (Dual Analog Stick) controller has played a key role in paving the way to the widespread adoption of FPS games, and has been as critical in bringing FPS games to a broad user base as has the enhanced graphics processing capability of the gaming consoles. In fact, in today's console-based gaming market, FPS games account for fully one-third of all game titles sold in the video gaming market. The demographic of primary FPS game players constitutes what is known as the “hardcore gamer” segment within the general video game playing population. This is a highly sought after segment of the market by both the video console manufacturers as well as the video game title publishers as it tends to lead to console adoption within the broader market and offers a much sought after validation of a console's gaming worth. The major manufacturers of video game consoles at present are Nintendo®, Microsoft X-Box® and Sony Playstation®. FPS title franchises include Halo, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Modern Warfare and Resident Evil.
Few other video game experiences can match the sense of immersive play that FPS games provide. FPS games almost all involve some form of shooting weapon that the main character deploys against a variety of enemies that become increasingly challenging and lethal as game play progresses. The player's character traverses various scenes, which typically constitute different game levels, and eliminates enemy characters by shooting them within those levels as they are encountered. The Dual Analog Stick controls character movement and weapon aim by means of the thumb sticks as previously described. The left thumb stick controls character movement—forward, backwards, strafe left and strafe right, while the right thumb stick controls the character's field of view—pan up, pan down, pan left and pan right, exactly as a joystick would be used to control a fully articulating remote controlled camera mounted on a tripod.
Movement using the left thumb stick is strictly relative to the center of the first person character's current field of view, so by panning the character's camera angle by use of the right thumb stick, realignment of the character's direction of line of movement is controlled by the left thumb stick. For instance, if the character is currently “looking” at 90 degrees due East in a scene, then by moving the left thumb stick forward, the character would now start to move forward due East within the scene. As soon as the camera angle is changed using the right thumb stick to 0 degrees due North, the same forward displacement of the left thumb stick now moves the character straight ahead, but due North within the scene. All character movement in FPS games is relative to the center of the camera's field of view, as is the aiming point of the weapon that the character is firing. Because of this, most FPS games place a graphical representation of a weapon scope's crosshair exactly within the center of the display. In order to shoot and hit an enemy, the user must use the combination of left and right thumb sticks to maneuver the target into the middle of the crosshair (and thus display) before depressing the trigger. The trajectory and point of impact of the weapon's projectile corresponds to the point that is in the center of the crosshair and display.
Thus, a player's objective is to move through a scene and as the user encounters enemies, the user must maneuver the enemy into the center of his character's field of view through a combination of movement control via the left thumb stick and camera pan control via the right thumb stick. Successfully doing this then aligns the cross hair at the center of the display to the enemy to be fired upon and trigger button is then depressed to successfully engage the enemy. This method of weapon aiming is effective for the current state of game control available presently, but is the least realistic aspect of all modern FPS games. Several degrees of freedom that a real life combat situation would entail are necessarily forgone due to the limitations of the existing controller technology.
It is desirable to have apparatuses, methods, and systems for controlling a view of a virtual world character on a display based on the sensed spatial position of the user, thereby allowing enhancement of FPS games.